From Theory to Application: A Description of Transnationalism in Culturally-Appropriate HIV Interventions of Outreach, Access, and Retention Among Latino/a Populations

Abstract

Interventions aiming to improve access to and retention in HIV care are optimized when they are tailored to clients' needs. This paper describes an initiative of interventions implemented by ten demonstration sites using a transnational framework to tailor services for Mexicans and Puerto Ricans living with HIV. Transnationalism describes how immigrants (and their children) exist in their "receiving" place (e.g., continental U.S.) while simultaneously maintaining connections to their country or place of origin (e.g., Mexico). We describe interventions in terms of the strategies used, the theory informing design and the tailoring, and the integration of transnationalism. We argue how applying the transnational framework may improve the quality and effectiveness of services in response to the initiative's overall goal, which is to produce innovative, robust, evidence-informed strategies that go beyond traditional tailoring approaches for HIV interventions with Latino/as populations.

Keywords: HIV; Health disparities; Health service; Implementation science; Latino; Transnationalism.

Fig. 1

The HIV Care Continuum for Latino/as living with HIV in the U.S. Estimates are aggregates from the CDC surveillance data [8]. Dashed line represents targets from the National HIV/AIDS Strategy report [7]